


Interlude

by apollo1832



Series: A Meeting in Three Parts [2]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 13:47:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11579295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollo1832/pseuds/apollo1832
Summary: How Andrew and Neil wind up in Columbia(Part 1.5)





	Interlude

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically Part 1.5 of this series, and picks up right where Part 1 left off, so you should definitely read Part 1 before reading this.

The only thing going through Andrew’s head, as he sat in holding waiting to be processed and sent to juvy, was everything that had happened since the day before Thanksgiving.

It had been almost two weeks since he had last seen Alex. He should have known Alex was too good to be true, that Alex would just abandon him like so many others. Despite everything that pointed to the opposite, Alex had been uncomplicated, he had been someone Andrew found himself _trusting_ him, and for someone with Andrew’s background, trust was a hard thing to come by.  

After he had suffered through the hell that was Thanksgiving break, Andrew had been for the first time in his life, excited to go back to school. He had been looking forward to seeing his friend because whenever he was with Alex it was like all his problems were somehow dulled. He had wanted to see Alex, maybe even kiss him again, but when he got to first period and saw he wasn’t there, he felt like throwing up. All of his fears had come rushing back, because he knew that Alex was a running, but he never let himself really dwell on it.

He should have known better.

The first few days with no sign of Alex, Andrew knew he would never see his friend again. He briefly entertained the possibility that Alex was in fact a hallucination, or a ghost, but discarded it because for all that he was fake, Alex was so _real_.

Now though, he had time to adjust back to the way things were before Alex. Now he had bigger things to worry about.

Aaron had taken to sending him letters, telling Andrew how he wanted to meet him and all that shit. There was a part of Andrew that did want to meet his brother, his _twin_ , but the bigger part knew he couldn’t risk it. As much as he wanted to stay with Cass, he just couldn’t risk Drake getting his hands on another person. But so far, Aaron had proven stubborn and annoyingly persistent, so much so that Cass was taking secret phone calls to try and set up meetings between the two.

Andrew had a plan though. He wasn’t necessarily a good one, but it was effective.  

Apparently taking a crowbar to a cop car, with the cop still inside, was a pretty quick way to find yourself in lockup, because it was barely twenty seconds later that Andrew had found himself in some pretty handcuffs and being read his Miranda rights.

He knew that Cass had already been informed of what Andrew had done, but he refused to see her when they told him he had a visitor. He was being transfer to juvy in a few hours to start out his 6 month sentence, and seeing Cass would just make everything harder.

Cass had been the first person to see something worth saving, as someone who could be _something_ instead of the orphan foster kid who would never amount to anything.

‘ _Not really an orphan anymore.’_ Andrew thought. Because he wasn’t was he? When Aaron first tried to get in contact with him, he thought Aaron was like him, someone who grew up in foster care never knowing their parents. But then he overheard Cass talking to a woman named Tilda Minyard, who told the tragic story of giving birth to twins, but found herself not being able to handle two babies, so she picked one and gave him up for adoption.

Which, ya know, would suck if Andrew actually felt anything towards his birth mother. She hadn’t wanted him, so frankly, he didn’t want anything to do with her either.

A while later, he felt more than saw someone come to stop in front of his cell. He was about to tell them to fuck off when they spoke.

“Andrew, what have you gotten yourself into now?” said Officer Higgins.

Last year, Andrew had been placed in a group home and every Friday Officer Higgins would come and talk to them about opportunities for them to get involved with the community, and despite never showing interest, Higgins had taken a shine to Andrew. At first, Andrew had been wary of the pig, knowing better than to trust a grown man twice his size and a cop to boot. But Higgins had proven himself to be one of the sickeningly self-righteous good guys, and Andrew found himself-not trusting-but accepting of the officer.

“Officer Piggins! What a surprise,” Andrew replied. He didn’t want to engage in conversation with the man that was responsible for this in the first place. If Higgins hadn’t mistaken Aaron for Andrew, then Andrew would never know that he had a twin, would never had gotten himself locked up. He still didn’t know if he would have been better off never finding out about Aaron.

“Is that anyway to talk to the cop that got you off on only 6 months in juvy?” When Andrew just stared blankly at him, he continued, starting to sound pissed off, “Andrew, what the hell were you thinking? They wanted to lock you up until you turned 18 for Christ’s sake!”

To Andrew, being locked up until he was 18 was supposed to be the point. Andrew ignored the man until Higgins got fed up, storming out muttering obscenities under his breath.

After what felt like minutes Andrew was being led from his cell and being put on a bus with other delinquent kids his age, and the next thing he knew he was being assigned a bunk and given a lecture on _‘what to do and what not to do’._

The next few months are spent in a daze, of Andrew just doing what’s expected of him, not caring to do anything else. He ignores his bunkmate, goes to the mandatory counseling. At one point it’s recommended that he plays a sport, since there’s concerns he’s not interacting with anyone.

They force him to play Exy, which makes him think of the boy he knew, of what seems like a long time ago. He ignores it, pushing it away because it won’t make a difference.

They put him in goal, because they won’t take the risk and put someone as violent as him on the field where he could hurt the other players. The only thing he can do in the goal is defend himself, and they say he’s good, the best they’ve ever seen.

He doesn’t care about Exy.

It’s been four month’s since his sentence started when he gets a visitor. It’s not Cass, coming to take pity on him, it’s not Drake come to torment him so more; it’s Luther Hemmick, the uncle he never knew.

Luther tells Andrew he came out here to help his sister move to Columbia, where he lives. He tells him that once he gets out, Andrew will be taken into his mother’s custody. That they can be a real family and that he can have a fresh start in Columbia when he gets released in less than 2 months. He doesn’t question how they can be a real family if Tilda didn’t bother to see him, he doesn’t tell Luther he doesn’t know what family even means. He just walks away.

He doesn’t care.

When he’s released, Luther is there waiting for him, telling him they have a flight to catch to Columbia. Andrew starts to protest, but _he doesn’t want anything_ , and figures Columbia has to be better than Oakland.

It’s not.

For once, he tries to tell the truth, but it’s laughed off. Luther tells him that it was a _misunderstanding_ , and that Andrew is just too unbalanced to understand normal brotherly affection.

Tilda is beating Aaron, and Aaron makes a deal with Andrew.

Andrew kills Tilda, making sure she’ll never touch Aaron again, that no one will ever hurt his brother again. Aaron can’t stand the sight of Andrew, and that’s fine but Andrew made a deal and he sticks by his word.

**~*~*~**

After Oakland, Abram and his mother run to Seattle, where his mother has a contact with a safe house they can use before trying to go over the border, making try and get back to Europe.

That’s where the Butcher catches up to them.

They escape, but not before Abram is almost gutted and his mother is grazed. They drive south, maybe cross into Mexico instead. They’re in California before Abram realizes that something is seriously wrong, that his mother isn’t all there, that she’s slurring her words and not hiding the fact that she’s in pain any longer. He doesn’t realize what this means until they’re on a deserted stretch of beach miles away from anyone. She’s telling him to repeat what she said, that he won’t trust anyone and that he won’t stop running, that he’ll survive.

He’s numb as he sets the car on fire with her inside. He’s running on autopilot as he scoops out her bones, with flesh still attached to them and buries them a few miles away from the scorched car. No one will ever find her, and no one will ever know who she was.

He has the money hidden in his binder and the rest from what remained from his mother’s bag, but he needs a new ID, a new place to lay low for a while far from here. He doesn’t remember all of his mother’s contact, but he remembers one who lives back East, and with news of his father’s arrest in Seattle for something carrying a 3 year sentence, he figures it’s far enough away from here. That he can get a new ID and lay low in Columbia for a few months while he tries to figure out what he’ll do without his mother.

 _Hopefully Columbia is better than here,_ is the thought going through Abram’s head as he slowly makes his way hitchhiking and walking across the country.

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd as usual so all mistakes are completely my own. I have Part 2 pretty much planned out, so I should have the first chapter of that up sometime next week??


End file.
